


Sevenoaks

by ingberry



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dragonlord Merlin (Merlin), Dragons, Exes, Getting Back Together, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Mystery, Non-Graphic Violence, dragon expert Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:00:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingberry/pseuds/ingberry
Summary: Dragon expert Arthur Pendragon hasn’t spoken to his dragonlord ex, Merlin, in months. Then Merlin goes missing.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 584
Collections: Merlin Holidays 2019





	Sevenoaks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LFB72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LFB72/gifts).



> **Notes:**  
>  Happy holidays, LFB72! I hope you enjoy this little gift. 
> 
> Thanks to my lovely beta, those who helped along the way, and [ASMR Rooms’ Grimmauld Place Christmas scene](https://youtu.be/m8V-KpzvBxA) for getting me through the process!

It was disorientingly dark when two quick raps on the door rang through Arthur’s office. Rolling his shoulders, he looked up from the dragon scale he’d been trying to identify for what was apparently the better part of the afternoon. He could hear Gwaine working in the neighbouring office so it couldn't be too late, but it had gotten pitch dark since he last looked out the window. The only light on in the office was the one on his desk, lighting up a circle around his work station. 

“Yes,” Arthur said, still holding the dragon scale under the instrument. “Come in!” 

A silent moment passed before the door creaked open, revealing two silhouettes backlit by the light in the hallway. He squinted, still confused from being shaken out of his focus. 

“Dr Arthur Pendragon?” 

Arthur waved at the sign on the open door. 

“We’re here about Merlin Emrys.”

Perplexed, he lowered the scale into its container and leaned back in his chair, eyeing the two indistinct figures. “What about Merlin?”

“Detective Freya Black.” A slender woman stepped into his office, her angled face unreadable. “Albion unit. This is my partner, Detective Percival.” She gestured to a tall man lingering in the doorway before slowly lowering herself into the chair across from Arthur. “You and Merlin are involved, right?” 

“Used to be.” Arthur’s stomach felt heavy. Not just because he always felt out of sorts when he thought of Merlin, but because he didn’t like where the conversation was heading. “We broke up some months ago.” 

“We were wondering if you’ve had any word from Merlin lately.” 

“No, we haven’t really been in the habit of speaking.” Arthur waved his hand. “Since the break-up.” 

“So, nothing.” 

“No.” Arthur looked between the two figures in his office. “Should I have?” 

Detective Freya folded her arms in her lap and gave him a long look. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Merlin has been missing for about a week.” 

Merlin used to sit in that same chair. Always draped across it like he was part of the room. Always with his feet slung over the armrest. Sometimes with his boots kicked off onto the floor and his coat hung over the back. Often, he’d have a thick tome open on his lap and they’d both work in silence. Other times Merlin would help him, or he’d talk his head off until Arthur had to kiss his mouth shut. 

“Uh, we—I—” Arthur ran a hand through his hair. “A week?” 

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“Did you check with his uncle?”

“We’ve checked with everyone within his immediate circle. Hence—” Freya waved a hand at him. “You.” 

Arthur opened his mouth, but closed it again. He rubbed at his face, staring at the dragon scale. How could he not know Merlin was missing? Even if they’d broken up, even if they hadn’t spoken since. Why wouldn’t anyone tell him? Their relationship hadn’t been that long, in the grand scheme of things. They didn’t really have a lot of mutual friends, but surely Gwen would have told him. He peered at the people in his office. 

“I haven’t seen him in months. I’m sorry. I wish I had.” 

“You haven’t seen him,” Freya repeated. 

“Or spoken to. Or heard from. Whatever term you want to use.”

“Did he say anything to you about a project he was working on?”

“No. I don’t think so. Nothing that comes to mind.”

“Did he come to you for help with anything?”

“Not lately. Like I said, we haven’t been in contact.”

Freya’s face gave nothing away. Her large eyes were the only aspect of her that gave any expression. She seemed to soften a bit around the mouth, and then she said, “Do you know who might want to hurt Merlin?” 

For the first time, the true weight of the situation punched him in the gut. _Fuck_. What if Merlin was not merely gone. What if he was dead? Arthur felt the overwhelming need to sit down. The only problem being that he was already sitting down. He leant forwards, elbows on his knees, and stared down at the floor. The whole room seemed to move for a moment. 

“Dr Pendragon.” Freya’s voice was stoic. “Are you alright?”

He couldn’t quite comfortably say that he was. Instead of answering, he forced himself to say, “I don’t know who would want… I don’t know.” 

No one except his father, but not even his father would sink that low. 

“Thank you for your cooperation.” Freya’s steps were dull taps against the wooden floor. “Please contact us if you remember anything else or come across any information. It is vitally important.”

At that, Arthur was alone in his spinning office as he tried to slow his breathing. 

He had to find Gwen. 

*

_“Gwen is the nicest person in the world,” Merlin said as he brushed lint off Arthur’s jacket. “Unlike your terrifying sister who you made me have tea with last weekend. So this will be 100% fine.”_

_“How do you know she’s not just nice to you? Maybe she’s a literal nightmare to everyone else.”_

_“She’s a saint. And Lance is the second nicest person in the world.”_

_“So you know all the nicest people in the world.”_

_“Obviously.”_

_They decided to walk to Gwen’s. It wasn’t too far from Merlin’s flat and it was a wonderful May afternoon. Merlin slipped his hand into Arthur’s as they walked, their fingers entwined._

*

It was Lance who opened the door, unable to hide his alarm when he saw who it was. Arthur pushed past him, his patience gone after the long process of remembering Gwen’s address, taking two buses to get there, and the never-ending loop of catastrophes that played in his head. 

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Gwen appeared in the kitchen doorway, her face drawn and tired, hair up in a messy bun. Arthur’s anger melted away as he saw her face. 

“You weren’t really our top priority,” Lance said. “Oddly enough.”

He knew that. Of course he was at the top of no one’s list in a time like this, but he hated that. Wasn’t his relationship to Merlin also worth something? An end to a relationship didn’t mean you stopped caring whether someone lived or died. 

“I just had two detectives at my office.” Arthur looked at Gwen. “I forgot to tell them anything helpful. I want to help.”

“Of course,” Gwen said, placating. “We’ve just been keeping it as quiet as possible. The detectives are doing their investigation, but we’re doing our own as well.” She motioned towards the living room. “Please come in. Can I take this?” 

He gave her his jacket. It was wet from the slight flurry of snow he’d walked in from the bus stop, ambling around for 10 minutes before he found the right building. 

“Just have a seat in the living room, it’s all there.”

Arthur had no idea what she meant by that until he saw it. Last time he’d been here, it’d been a homely room with a giant, comfortable sofa. Now the regular living room furniture was pushed aside to accommodate a large table full of papers, pictures, and a few laptops. He sank down in a chair next to some pictures of Merlin and Gwen smiling at the camera from their seats at Merlin’s kitchen table.

“We’ve been using our flat as the main meeting point,” Gwen explained. “Everything we have is here.” She took the seat opposite him. He heard Lance move around in the kitchen.

Arthur picked up a picture, his mouth feeling dry. 

“We don’t know very much,” she said, voice wavering a little. “That picture you’re holding is the last time I saw him. We had dinner at his place on Monday last week and then Wednesday is the last time he showed up at work. We think the last people who saw him were Sefa and Will who said goodbye to him as he left work. As far as we know, no one has heard from him since then.”

“Wednesday last week?”

“Yes, November 27th.” Gwen leaned against her hand, elbow propped on the table. “We don’t think he was home before he disappeared. None of the neighbours saw him come home and none of his work clothes are at his flat. So we assume he must’ve disappeared on his way home.” 

“Tea?” 

Arthur looked up at Lance holding a steaming pot and three mugs. He nodded and watched in silence as Lance filled their cups. 

“Are you alright, Arthur?” Gwen’s voice had a gentler quality to it. “It’s a shock, isn’t it.”

The tea was scalding hot but he swallowed a mouthful anyway and reached into his trouser pockets. His hands shook a little as he unlocked his phone, aware of both Lance and Gwen’s eyes on him. 

“I didn’t tell the detectives,” Arthur said. “I was too—you know. But I got these.” He slid his phone over to Gwen. 

He hadn’t replied to the messages. They were gibberish, and he assumed Merlin had drunk texted him something from the pub. 

Gwen’s hand covered her mouth. “November 27th,” she whispered. Lance shot out of his chair to read over her shoulder.

“I didn’t know what they meant. I still don’t.” Arthur pressed a hand to his forehead. “I thought it was just drunk texting. But it has to mean something. He hadn’t texted me in months, and then that.”

Gwen reached for a piece of paper and furiously scribbled down the messages. “You’re right, it has to be something. It’s the only sign of life we have.” 

It was nine days ago. Arthur felt nauseous at the thought. A clammy silence fell over the room and none of them looked at each other. The idea of Merlin no longer existing was too horrible to bear. No one in the world seemed as inexplicably alive as Merlin. There was always something about him that was so intensely connected to the world. It had drawn Arthur to him like nothing else had. 

*

_  
“Dr Pendragon.”_

_Arthur turned to see Merlin, the dragonlord he’d briefly seen at his last visit, leaning against the fence. He was wearing heavy boots and a long blue coat, his black hair a strong contrast to his pale, chiselled face. He looked like no one else Arthur had ever seen._

_“Mr Emrys.”_

_“I see you decided to return.”_

_“Well, it’s part of my research. I’m here to observe a couple of the dragons up close.”_

_“You’ll have to tell me more about your research sometime. It’s… interesting to me to choose to study dragons, just, theoretically.”_

_Arthur fought the impulse to roll his eyes. “Well, we can’t all be dragonlords.”_

_“I suppose that’s true.” Merlin winked at him. “Want to really see one?”_

_“Oh, I’ve already seen the ones over there.” Arthur waved at the dragons between the trees._

_Merlin grinned, then stepped away from the fence. He looked towards the forest and closed his eyes. Even if Arthur had wanted to look away, he didn’t know that he could’ve. Merlin’s profile was striking. When he opened his eyes, they were like liquid gold and when he held his hand out one of the dragons leapt into the sky and spread his wings wide, fire roaring up into the air above it._

_Arthur’s heart stopped at the sight and he lost his breath for a moment. He met Merlin’s golden eyes as Merlin beamed at him._

_“That’s Kilgharrah.”_

*

The dragon reserve was busy when Arthur opened the gates. Several people were huddled near the main building, and two of the dragons were visible near the clearing of the woods. One of them was Kilgharrah. Arthur walked up the hill towards the house, the light dusting of snow dotted with footprints going in every direction. 

Arthur hadn’t been back since the break-up. His research hadn’t needed it, and they’d pretty much avoided each other since July. He’d missed it. Being close to the dragons was always a sobering experience for him. Most of his career he had spent reading about them, studying them from afar. His recent research had brought him close to them and to the few dragonlords that were left. It had been fascinating to see the bond, feel the force of Merlin’s magic and connection to the giant creatures that Arthur had been fascinated by for so long. 

It was probably Arthur’s imagination, but the place felt different without Merlin. There was something just slightly off. The dragons seemed more guarded and the staff looked subdued. He caught the eye of Will who broke off from the others he was talking to and walked towards him. 

“Hello, Will.” Arthur stuck his cold hands into his pockets. 

“Pendragon.” 

“I heard.”

Will looked away for a moment, his lips pursed. “What do you want, then?” 

“I guess I just wanted to see if there’s anything here that can tell me what happened. When did you last see him?”

“So you suddenly care now? Just because he’s gone?”

“You think I want him dead?”

To Arthur’s surprise, Will’s face crumbled. “I’m sorry. It’s just really fucking shit. This whole thing, you know. It’s fucking shit.”

“I know it is. It’s--” He had no words. “Is there anything you can tell me?” 

“He left at about 5. Sefa and I were the ones who saw him leave because we left last. I think he was just going home, he didn’t say anything about any plans or anything. He seemed normal.” Will shrugged. “I’ve wracked my brain so many times, but I can’t think of anything that wasn’t just part of a normal day.” 

“It must’ve happened between here and his flat.”

“Yeah, probably. But it wouldn’t have been hard to find out where he worked, right? It’s not like the reserve is a secret.”

“No, it’s definitely not.” Arthur was about to ask if Merlin had said anything when he felt the unmistakable gust of dragon breath against his cheeks. He turned to find Kilgharrah leaning down, staring into his face. Only his experience stopped him from running in the opposite direction. 

“Killy,” Will said. The nickname made Kilgharrah stare at Will with an intensity that told Arthur it wasn’t exactly a preferred one. “It’s just Arthur.” Kilgharrah huffed. He seemed less than impressed about being told the obvious. “He’s been quite agitated since Merlin. I think he’s been trying to tell us something.”

“But Merlin’s the only one who can talk to dragons. Practical.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely not the easiest thing to run a dragon reserve when no one can talk to the dragons. Look, I have to run, but just stay as long as you want to.” 

As Will walked back to the main house, Kilgharrah was watching Arthur, his breath huffing impatiently. 

“Hello, Kilgharrah,” he said, nodding his head slightly. “Nice to see you again.”

There was no reaction. Not exactly a very hearty reunion, but dragons were unpredictable at the best of times. 

“You know something about Merlin.” Arthur searched Kilgharrah’s face for a reaction. 

Nobody could really prove whether dragons could only communicate with dragonlords, or if they chose to communicate only with dragonlords. Arthur thought this was as good an evidence as he was ever going to get that it wasn’t a choice. Kilgharrah would have spoken to him if it would save Merlin. He felt certain of that. 

Kilgharrah huffed again, and Arthur could have sworn he rolled his eyes. Then he suddenly pushed against Arthur’s side, nibbling at his jacket. Arthur yelped, taking several steps back before he even realised he had. 

“Hey, what’s the deal with you?” 

If looks could kill, Arthur would have been dead. He might also have been dead if Kilgharrah truly wanted to hurt him because his massive wing suddenly tapped at his side, sending him staggering right into the ground. He looked up at the massive dragon. The snow was soaking into his jeans and Arthur quickly pushed himself back up. He slipped his hand into the left pocket. 

“Is it this you’re so subtly pointing out to me?” He held up his phone. 

Kilgharrah gave him an unimpressed look and huffed, turning his back to him as he headed back towards the forest. 

“Point taken,” Arthur said to the dragon’s back. 

It seemed, by all accounts, that Arthur was the only one who had received anything out of the ordinary from Merlin that day. He opened his text chain. 

_Steven owns  
The pixel wee to  
Don calm_

The problem was it was complete gibberish, and according to Kilgharrah, the key to finding Merlin, wherever he was. 

*

_  
“Don’t you think you’ve worked enough?”_

_Arthur almost jumped. He hadn’t heard Merlin move, and the feeling of Merlin’s hands on his shoulders was unexpected. He looked up from the paper he was writing and smiled as Merlin slid his hands down Arthur’s chest, his chin hooking over Arthur’s shoulder._

__

__

_“I just have a couple of things left to do.”_

_“Do them tomorrow.”_

_“Why do them tomorrow if I can do them today?”_

_“Why do it today if you can do it tomorrow, rather.” Merlin placed a kiss under his jaw. “I have plans for tonight. But we could do it here, if you want to. You can bend me over the desk, maybe. Fuck me so I’ll have to hold onto the edge of it to not fall off.”_

_Arthur’s fingers tightened around his pen. “Stop distracting me.”_

_“Maybe my thighs will bruise from banging against the edge. I’d love your hand to push me down, just pin me there.”_

_Arthur tossed his pen aside and turned, catching Merlin’s mouth in a kiss.  
_

*

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Arthur jerked, eyes bleary against the lights as he looked up. His sister stood in front him, a thunderous expression on her face. He’d clearly fallen asleep at his desk, and he had no idea for how long. A piece of paper was stuck to his face and Morgana peeled it off.

“It’s midnight. Do you know how many times I’ve called you? You scared the shit out of me.”

“Midnight? Fuck.” Arthur looked out into the black night outside the window. The road was deserted. He’d been asleep for at least three hours. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Morgana’s eyes softened. “Of course you’re not sleeping well.” She paused. “You should go home and take some sleeping medication.”

“I can’t. I have to figure out the texts.”

She sat down opposite him, looking around the office. Since she’d last been there he’d stuffed his bookcase with more replicas of dragons and his tables were full to the brim with dragon scales, claws and other samples. 

“You said they don’t make sense. The texts. Do you know why he sent them to you?”

“I have no idea.” Arthur rubbed his cheek. “The only thing I can think is that he sent it to me because I know dragons. Maybe it’s something academic. Something I should know. A hint from a knowledge we both share.” 

“That’s not a bad theory.”

“But it doesn’t really add up. The first one says ‘Steven owns’.” Arthur picked up one of the books he’d been looking in before he fell asleep and opened it. “There are no dragon academics called Steven. That I know of. And what does he own? Is it a sample? Something that they want from Merlin that he doesn’t have, but Steven has?” 

Morgana tilted her head to the side. “Maybe Merlin needs you to find Steven.”

“But how?” 

“I have no idea. Is there any other hint about who Steven might be?” 

“No. The texts say something about pixels. But what do pixels have to do with it? Though one of the texts says, ‘Don calm’.”

“Maybe he’s a don at Oxford or Cambridge,” Morgana said.

Arthur sat up. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ve never heard of a don at Oxford or Cambridge being called Steven, but I could check. Maybe it’s a first name. Maybe they know each other well.” It could be a new boyfriend. That thought shouldn’t matter much, considering there were worse things happening, but it still made his heart seize. He had avoided thinking about Merlin moving on all these months, because the thought made him want to die a little. 

“You can check in the morning. You need to sleep. Let me call a taxi and I’ll follow you home.” 

“No, I can’t—“

Morgana rose from the chair and came around the desk. “Arthur, yes. You’ll go home to sleep. I won’t let you sit here all night. It won’t do anyone any good if you can’t think.” He looked up at her, unsure of what to do. “Get up.” 

He gave in. When he stood up, Morgana suddenly embraced him, pulling him hard against her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her shoulder. 

*

_  
“It’s fucked up how much you care about your dad’s opinion. Morgana doesn’t give two shits about him.”_

_“You don’t understand what it’s like. What he’s like.”_

_“You don’t give me much room to understand, do you? You don’t tell me anything, and especially about your family. Why don’t you ever tell me about him? Your conversations? You always just shut it out.”_

_“Because he fucking hates you. He hates everything I do. Why should I tell you that he hates everything about what I choose to be, and berates me for it every minute I spend with him?”_

_“Who cares? Who cares what he thinks?”_

_“I care! He’s my father. Of course I care what he thinks.”_

_“And what are you going to do about it, then? Just keep shutting me out?”_

_“What do you want me to do?”_

_“Stand up for yourself.”_

_“It’s not that simple, Merlin.”_

_“Yeah, it really is that simple.”_

*

When he woke on Sunday after another fitful night of sleep, it felt like an eternity since Friday afternoon. His eyes were dry as sandpaper and he chugged two cups of coffee without even tasting them. The texts were rolling around in the back of his head, their nonsense making his pulse steadily rise. They were running out of time. They might have already run out of time. 

He forced himself to eat a bowl of porridge as he looked up some of the things he and Morgana had talked about yesterday. When none of it came up with anything useful, he knew he had to get out of the house.

The table at Gwen’s flat was even more chaotic than the last time he’d been there. This time, more people were huddled around it as well. Merlin’s Uncle Gaius was there, looking at some papers, with a small, thin woman seated next to him. Surprisingly, Gwaine and Elena sat on the other side of the table in front of a laptop. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked, taking a seat next to Elena. 

“Morgana told us,” Elena said. “We couldn’t just sit around, could we?” She put a hand on his arm and patted it. 

Gwen appeared next to him with a cup of tea. “They’ve been very helpful.” She shared a warm look with Elena who broke into a smile. 

“Gwen, I think… the key is the messages, but I can’t figure out what they mean.” He put his notebook down on the table, showing her the pages of notes he’d taken trying to decipher them. “Morgana thought Steven might be a don at Oxford or Cambridge because of the last text, but I checked and there are no dons with that name or any very similar names, first or last. So that was a dead end.”

“I’ve been looking at them too, but they haven’t made any sense to me or Lance.”

“Do you know if there’s a Steven?” 

Gwen shook her head. “Not that I know.”

“Maybe the key is why he messaged you and no one else,” Elena said as she flicked through the notes. 

“I thought about that. I figured it has something to do with dragons, something academic, something we would both know.” Arthur shrugged. “Or maybe it’s just because my name starts with A and I came up first.”

“Dragons are hardly the only thing you have in common, mate.” Gwaine raised his eyebrows. 

Arthur looked at him blankly. “What?”

Gwaine made a crude gesture with his hands and Gwen gave a startled laugh. 

“For fuck’s sake, Gwaine.” 

“I know you’ve been avoiding that fact since the summer but I think maybe now’s the time to stop pretending you only have dragons in common.”

Looking away, Arthur’s gaze followed some of the pictures of Merlin on the table. His stomach rolled. “They still don’t make sense, even from that perspective.”

Gwen’s brows furrowed as she looked at the messages. “Freya,” she said and looked up across the table. “Did you look closer at the messages?” 

“Yes, we have studied them and have contacted a code expert as well who will look at them soon.”

Arthur’s heart hammered. “Wait,” he said. “Freya?”

“Yes. That’s detective Freya Black from the Albion unit.”

“That’s not the Freya that came to my office.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing, mild alarm settling on their faces.

“What did she look like?” Freya asked, taking a notepad and pen out of her pocket.

“I—I don’t fully remember. Uh, slender, but taller than you. Quite large eyes, kind of severe look about her. I think her hair was blonder than yours?” 

“Could you recognise her in a picture?” 

“Maybe, but I don’t know if I could recognise the bloke. He was standing in near darkness the whole time.” He rubbed his hands against his temples. “Did you see them, Gwaine?”

“No, I was in my office. I heard someone talking in your office, but I was busy.”

“Who did she say the man was?”

“Detective Percival, I think?”

“That’s my partner, but it couldn’t have been him.” Freya frowned. “What did you see of him?”

“All I saw was he was quite tall.”

“Big around the shoulders?”

“Not excessively.”

“So, not Percy then.” 

Gwen startled herself by laughing. Her hands shook as she pushed a piece of her hair behind her ears. “What would whoever it was want from Arthur?”

Freya looked at him. “What did they ask you?” 

“If I’d heard from him, pretty much.”

“Maybe they wanted to know if Merlin had somehow reached you. Maybe they suspected Merlin had access to the phone? Did you tell them?”

“No, I’d forgotten about it, honestly, and then I was too shocked to remember until later.” 

Gwaine leaned his forearm against the table and looked between them. “But wouldn’t it be risky to alert Arthur to the fact that Merlin is missing?” 

“They probably thought he already knew,” Freya said. “And if he didn’t, his reaction would tell them if he had an idea.”

“But why would it _matter_ to them if Arthur knew, or had gotten a message from him?” 

Silence fell across the table. Gaius was the one who finally spoke. “Perhaps whatever they need Merlin for isn’t ready. There has to be a reason why they took Merlin, and it can’t be just to murder him. They need his skills for something, but perhaps they need time, or another element to make their plan work.”

“I’m going to go and update Percy and we’ll try to figure out why they would come to you disguised as us. We might want you to look at some pictures of suspects.” Freya rose from the table and pocketed her notepad. “Nice to meet you, Dr Pendragon.” 

“Nice to meet you too.”

“That’s so strange,” Elena said as Freya left. “It seems like a very odd tactic.”

“I can’t believe I had them in my office. I could’ve… done something.” Arthur rested his head in his hands and took several deep breaths, trying to conjure up the face of the woman he’d spoken to.

“You don’t even know if it’s actually them. Maybe it’s someone else trying to find Merlin.” Gwen’s hand rested on his shoulders, rubbing it softly in comfort. “We don’t know anything about that yet.”

“They didn’t even give identification. I should’ve seen through it.”

“It was a hell of a shocking message to get, though,” Gwaine said. “Who would be thinking clearly in that moment?” 

“Merlin, probably.” 

“Yes, well.” Gwen smiled. “Merlin is a whole different story altogether.”

“Hey,” Elena said, suddenly, her eyes on the text messages. “What if Merlin tried to get a message across, but couldn’t. Maybe what’s in the text isn’t his exact words, but they were autocorrected or something?” 

Arthur’s eyes widened and he grabbed his notebook. He hadn’t considered that at all, but of course it made sense. Merlin may have been in a rush. He may have been handcuffed or blindfolded or both. 

“Shit, Elena, that’s probably true.” Arthur stared at the others in turn. “No wonder I couldn’t find Steven.”

Grabbing her phone out of her pocket, Gwen waved a hand at everyone else. “We all need to find out what he might have tried to say. Any nearby letter combinations that could make sense.”

They huddled around the same area of the table and began writing out combinations they could think of. Any words that used surrounding letters, anything that Merlin might have tried to type that autocorrect had changed in the hopes of making sense. The list became longer and longer. _severed_ , _debted_ , _seven_ , _oars_ , _ogres_. It all swam together into a confusing word-jumble. 

However, Arthur was sure this was what had happened. Merlin had tried to type him a message in a rush, and Arthur had interpreted it as a drunken mess. He could make sense of it now, though, if he just tried hard enough. 

Another hour later, Freya came back with her partner, Percival, who was indeed much larger than the man Arthur had seen in his office. They took Arthur aside into the kitchen and gave him a small stack of pictures. After the fourth one, he stopped. 

“It was her.” He recognised her eyes immediately. 

Freya and Percival shared a look. “That’s Morgause Gorlois,” Percival said.

“Morgause Gorlois,” Arthur said. “The leader of Black Dawn.”

The most feared group of dark magic users were involved. Their leader had been in his office. Her reputation was nothing short of terrifying and he’d looked her straight in the eyes. 

“Yes. They’ve been on our list of suspects, but we had no clear leads that they were involved. Until now.”

“Why would she risk exposure by coming to me herself?” 

“That’s the question,” Freya said. “Something must be going wrong with their plan. She never does this, it’s basically unheard of.” 

Arthur leaned back in the kitchen chair, drumming his fingers against the table. He closed his eyes and replayed the visit in his head. “She asked me if he’d been in contact, but then I think she also asked if he’d talked to me about a project he had. Maybe Merlin was working on something that they need, and thought I was involved.”

“Good,” Percival said, turning towards Freya. “That’s good.”

“Let’s try to find out if Merlin was working on something, and then you and Gwen can try to work on the messages. We still haven’t heard from our codebreaker.”

He sat by the kitchen table for a moment after Freya and Percival had left. Everything outside was just as normal. Not far away, Winter Wonderland was happening at Hyde Park. People were shopping for Christmas. They were going to work. And somewhere, Merlin was going through god knows what. 

“I need to clear my head a bit,” he said to Gwen when he came back into the living room. He brought his notebook with him, the endless list of words filling multiple pages. “I’ll be back soon.” 

She had a faraway look in her eyes and he supposed Freya must have told her about Black Dawn. He put a hand on her shoulders, briefly, before he left. 

Outside it was blistering cold. The wind was whipping into his face as he walked down the street, winding through the crowd of people. Everyone was huddling into their scarves, bracing themselves against the wind. Inside the shops, everything looked warm and light, the coffee shop full of people escaping the weather. He could smell pastry as he walked past an open door and stopped for a moment, wondering if he should go inside for another cup of tea. Just as he decided not to, his eyes fell on the estate agency right next to it. Several houses were advertised in the window. One of them read, “Tired of London? Try Kent!”

“Sevenoaks.” Arthur said to himself, a rush of recollection sending him reeling. “Steven owns. It’s Sevenoaks.”

*

_When they drove up to the cabin it looked just like the pictures on the website. A tiny little stone cabin outside Sevenoaks surrounded by the rolling hills of the Kent countryside. Merlin jumped out, face beaming._

_“This might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”_

_“I might agree with you,” Arthur said as he pulled their bags out of the back seat._

_Merlin carried the groceries inside as Arthur put their bags into the small bedroom. The cabin was filled with knickknacks on every shelf, books upon books lining the walls. Merlin walked from room to room, picking up every item and running his finger along the spine of every book as Arthur started making dinner._

_From the kitchen table, they had a view of the hills, a quilt of green spreading out into the distance. As they ate, the light changed into the golden light of a June evening._

_Merlin entwined their fingers as he looked out at the view. He turned back, smile wide. “I love you.”_

*

It wasn’t part of the plan to be knocked out upon arrival, but Arthur was an academic. An academic with his expertise in dragons, but an academic nonetheless. He didn’t really prepare for fistfights or anything else on the daily. As a child, his father had put him in fencing and he was alright at that, but dark magic terrorist groups didn’t really hold to rules of fencing. 

In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have rushed in alone. 

The last thing Gwaine had said to him was, “for the love of god, wait for us.” That was solid advice. 

Arthur blinked up at the dirty, wooden ceiling, trying to get his bearings. The room was pretty dark, but he could tell it was small and probably below ground. That didn’t bode well, but at least they hadn’t killed him on the spot. He groaned, his head pounding from whoever or whatever had knocked him out. An attempt to turn around made him realise his hands were bound behind his back.

“You absolute tosser,” said a voice that cracked with lack of hydration.

Arthur turned towards the sound, his arms twisting painfully in the process. 

Leaning against the wall, Merlin was watching him. 

Arthur was filled with a relief so strong that he almost passed out again. Merlin was alive, but looked out of it. His lips were dry, and his eyes heavy-lidded. His hair was dirty and dishevelled and his hands were full of the grime from the floor. 

“Merlin, thank fuck.” 

Arthur struggled to sit upright and manoeuvre himself towards Merlin.

“ _Why_ are you here?”

“I got your message.”

“Oh, great.” Merlin rolled his eyes. “Did you also see the message that said ‘don’t come’?”

Arthur blinked at him, confused. “Wait, is that what ‘don calm’ was supposed to be mean? Sorry, I spent the better part of three days trying to find out who the fuck Steven was.”

Merlin stared at him. 

“Or did you think ‘Steven owns. The pixels wee to.’ was supposed to mean anything?” 

“ _Sevenoaks. The place we went to_ ,” Merlin said. “I was tied up and I could barely see, alright.” He looked away. “Took you long enough.” It was supposed to sound flippant, but there was a rawness to it that took all the fight out of Arthur. He’d finally moved himself to the wall and propped himself up next to Merlin.

“I’m sorry.” Arthur tried to catch his eyes. “I really am.”

Merlin swallowed visibly. “It’s not your fault. Thank you.” He turned to look at Arthur. “But why the _fuck_ did you not bring the police. Why are you here getting yourself knocked out?”

“They know where I am, or, well, just about. I told them I figured out Sevenoaks and the general location, so detective Freya and Percival and their team managed to pin down a more specific location based on the information they’d already found during their investigation. I may have gotten a little overexcited, I suppose you could say.” 

“Hopefully they won’t move us now that they know you figured it out.” Merlin shifted. “With some luck Morgause isn’t here. Some of the others are just goons, they don’t do much of the thinking.”

“You met her too, then.”

“They’ve been trying to find out what I’m working on so she’s paid a few visits. I haven’t told them. Not that it’s even any use to them regardless, or anyone but me and Kilgharrah, for that matter.”

Arthur stayed silent for a moment, searching his face. “Find out, how?”

Merlin shrugged, his normally cheerful face drawn. “Methods.”

“Torture?” Arthur asked, voice low. 

“I suppose you can call it that.”

There was no doubt in Arthur’s mind you could call it that. “Merlin, please look at me.” He waited for several moments before Merlin’s eyes met his. “Are you alright?” He asked, itching to put an arm around his shoulders. 

“Of course,” Merlin said, without conviction. 

“Merlin.”

“It’s not the most fun I’ve ever had,” he admitted. Arthur could see bruises on his neck and it made him angrier than he ever thought he could be. “But I’ll be fine. Soon.”

“It’s okay if you’re not fine.”

Merlin gave a tiny smile. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

They sat in silence for a while, Arthur flexing his fingers to keep the blood flowing in his arms. “Bloody Black Dawn. Of all things.” 

“Don’t make me think about it. I’ve been trying to not dwell on that.” 

“Morgause came to my office pretending to be police.”

“Jesus. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, she didn’t do anything. I think she hadn’t realised we weren’t together anymore. Maybe she thought she could use me for something, but then realised I was useless.”

“Well, you are definitely useless.”

Arthur looked at him and smiled. “Kilgharrah has been in a full-on strop while you were gone.”

“They bound my magic.” Merlin leaned forwards and showed him the binding around his hands. It had made giant red bands on his skin. “I have no magic to use and I can’t bond with the dragons. Can’t contact Kilgharrah.”

“How does it feel?”

“Empty. Weird. I don’t like it.”

“I can’t imagine Kilgharrah likes it either.”

“I doubt it.” Merlin smiled. “He’s probably giving them hell.”

“He definitely is. Will looked pretty worked up.”

Above them, someone stomped across the floor, reminding them that they weren’t alone. They both looked up, and Arthur’s heart beat heavy in his chest at the reminder that he wasn’t just talking to Merlin. 

“Are they really coming?” Merlin asked, and the fear he was trying so hard to hide crept into the words. 

“Yes. I promise.”

*

Morgana flung herself around Arthur’s neck, her grip hard enough to bruise. 

“You asshole,” she said, voice muffled into his shoulder. “You absolute dipshit.” Her voice broke. “I hate you.”

He held her tightly, an uncomfortable lump lodging in his throat. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Damn right you weren’t. What if you’d _died_ and left me to be Uther’s only child? Don’t you fucking dare.”

Instead of saying anything, he just hugged her and watched over her shoulder as Gwen, Lance, and Gaius embraced Merlin in turn. As Morgana released her hold, he saw them lead him towards a waiting car. 

“Please, let’s leave,” Morgana said. “This place is awful.”

The house he’d crept up on earlier in the day, badly prepared and armed with nothing but his own stupidity, seemed pathetic now that he was no longer trying to infiltrate it, nor being held in the cellar. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” 

“Leon drove me, he’s over there with the car. He didn’t think I should drive. I almost punched him in the face, but he might have been right.”

Arthur smiled fondly at her, draping an arm over her shoulder as they walked to the car.

*

After fighting off Morgana, Arthur had been allowed to go to sleep alone in his own flat, only to find out he couldn’t sleep. He just kept turning under the covers, intermittently rubbing his wrists. 

When Freya and the rest had arrived, everything had happened so fast he hadn’t had time to say anything to Merlin. They’d been separated right away, and guided to their own friends and family after a quick chat with their own respective detective. 

Arthur felt unsettled. Flinging the cover aside, Arthur got up and put his clothes back on. Stepping into the dark kitchen, he put the kettle on and poured himself a steaming cup of tea. His phone said 04:15. 

After finishing his tea, he gave in and called a taxi. He pulled his jacket on and hurried down the stairs to wait out in the cold December night for the taxi to take him to Merlin’s. 

“What are you doing here?” Gwen whispered as she opened the door for him. 

“I couldn’t sleep.” Arthur buried his hands into his pockets. “Maybe I can do a shift. You can go home and sleep and I’ll stay. Is he sleeping?” 

“Yeah, he finally fell asleep. I’ve just been hanging around, making sure he’s alright. I didn’t want to leave him.”

“Let me take over for a bit. The taxi is downstairs, you can take it home. I already paid enough to cover for it.”

Gwen looked uncertain, but something in his face must have convinced her. She fumbled for her coat and slipped it on, wrapping her scarf around her neck. 

“Alright, thank you. I am very tired.” She smiled at him and patted him on the arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Arthur stepped inside as she left and closed the door behind him, feeling suddenly like an intruder. Merlin’s flat was quiet as he hung up his jacket and slipped off his shoes. He’d been here many times before, but it was months ago under very different circumstances. 

He hovered outside Merlin’s bedroom door, listening. It was quiet. He opened the door carefully and stopped inside to let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

Merlin’s breath was heavy in sleep and the familiar sound calmed Arthur down. He fumbled his way until he found a place to sit on the floor with his back to the wall. Letting his eyes rest, he hugged his knees to his chest and relaxed.

“Arthur?”

Arthur’s eyes blinked open and he realised he must’ve fallen asleep. He wasn’t entirely sure where he was. 

“Arthur?”

“Oh, shit, Merlin, sorry.” He rubbed at his eyes. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I woke myself.” Merlin was sitting upright in bed, his hair standing up at the back. “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I convinced Gwen to go home.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, you know.”

“I know that. Of course you don’t.”

Merlin flopped back onto the bed with a heavy sigh. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He held a hand over his eyes. ”Come here, then.” 

“What?”

“I said come here.”

Staggering to his feet, Arthur stretched his stiff limbs. He must’ve slept quite a while. When he reached the bed, he hesitated for a moment, but then slipped down under the covers, turning to face Merlin. 

“You’re such an idiot,” Merlin said, running his hand across Arthur’s jaw. “Always have been.” 

“So I’ve heard.” 

“Thank you for finding me, though.” 

“You’re welcome,” Arthur said quietly. “I didn’t do much.” 

Merlin smiled. “Of course you did.” He leaned closer, their faces inches apart. Arthur could feel Merlin’s breath across his lips. 

“Is this a thank you?” Arthur whispered. 

Merlin shook his head and kissed him. Arthur held an arm at his waist and then pulled him closer, opening up into the kiss. He’d missed this so much more than he’d allowed himself to think about. 

“Stay,” Merlin said.

Their lips brushed as he spoke.

“Yes.”

Merlin smiled and buried his face against Arthur’s neck. “Talk tomorrow.”

Outside, the city was waking up. A car stopped nearby, the door slamming shut, and someone spoke in muffled tones. Against his chest, Merlin’s breath was evening out. 

“Yes,” Arthur whispered. 

They fell asleep with their legs entwined.


End file.
